Battery management for optimizing battery and service life

ABSTRACT

The provision of a mode in silver zinc batteries where a user can access extra capacity as an emergency reserve for times when extra capacity is needed. While this temporarily increases capacity, it does not detrimentally affect cycle life over the longer term, and it permits a silver zinc battery to essentially mimic the long term capacity and cycle life characteristics of a lithium ion battery while still affording inherent advantages associated with silver zinc batteries. In a variant embodiment, this ability to temporarily increase capacity is optimally employed at the end of a battery life cycle in a controlled “roll-off” that accords additional cycles of battery service life. In another variant embodiment, the general capability to control capacity is employed to gradually decrease the available capacity of a battery over the life of the battery, to thereby extend the battery service life.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to arrangements for managingbattery power in mobile devices such as laptops.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Notebook computers and similar devices have long relied on batteriessuch as lithium-ion batteries which serve a useful purpose but are nowoften considered not to possess an energy density sufficient to meetemerging needs, especially in the context of more and more sophisticatednotebook devices.

To the extent that alternatives have been considered, silver-zincbatteries indeed provide additional energy density compared withprevious notebook battery technology (e.g., lithium ion batteries), butthe very nature of the silver zinc chemistry provides a very highinitial battery capacity that unfortunately drops off quickly as it iscycled (i.e., goes through charge/discharge cycles). This is apparentfrom FIG. 1, which graphically illustrates power level (capacity) vs.charging cycles (essentially a measure of time) for conventional lithiumion and silver zinc batteries. As shown, silver zinc batteries havetypically presented an even shorter service life than lithium ionbatteries, meaning that they cannot typically be charged and dischargedvery many times before the battery wears out. Accordingly, it has longbeen held that the short-lived higher capacity of a silver zinc batterydoes not provide a sufficient tradeoff for a service life that is whollyinadequate in the eyes of notebook users.

In response to such shortcomings, FIG. 2 illustrates an innovationwhereby the initial capacity of a silver-zinc battery (Silver-zinc 2) isartificially set or cast at a lower level than a “typical” silver-zincbattery (dotted line; Silver-zinc 1). This permits the life of the“revamped” silver-zinc battery (Silver-zinc 2) to be extended forseveral more cycles than in the case of the “typical” silver-zincbattery (Silver-zinc 1). However, compelling needs have still beenrecognized in connection with providing a more versatile and usefularrangement that takes advantage of changes in silver zinc batterycapacity in ways that are of even greater benefit to the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Broadly contemplated herein, in accordance with at least one presentlypreferred embodiment of the present invention, is the provision of amode in batteries where a user can access extra capacity as an emergencyreserve for times when extra capacity is needed. While this temporarilyincreases capacity, it does not detrimentally affect cycle life over thelonger term, and it permits a silver zinc battery to essentially mimicthe long term capacity and cycle life characteristics of a lithium ionbattery while still affording inherent advantages associated with silverzinc batteries.

In a variant embodiment, this ability to temporarily increase capacityis optimally employed at the end of a battery life cycle in a controlled“roll-off” that accords additional cycles of battery service life.

In another variant embodiment, the general capability to controlcapacity is employed to gradually decrease the available capacity of abattery over the life of the battery, to thereby extend the batteryservice life.

In summary, one aspect of the invention provides an apparatuscomprising: a mobile device; a battery for providing power to the mobiledevice; the battery comprising battery cells which store power; and abattery capacity manager which controls provision of power from thebattery to the mobile device; the battery capacity manager acting to:define a reserve capacity in the battery cells; and automatically availa selective temporary increase in battery capacity via employing thereserve capacity.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method comprising: powering amobile device with a battery, the battery comprising battery cells whichstore power; and

controlling provision of power from the battery to the mobile device,the controlling comprising: defining a reserve capacity in the batterycells; and automatically availing a temporary increase in batterycapacity via employing the reserve capacity.

Furthermore, an additional aspect of the invention provides a programstorage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program ofinstructions executable by the machine to perform a method comprising:powering a mobile device with a battery, the battery comprising batterycells which store power; and controlling provision of power from thebattery to the mobile device, the controlling comprising: defining areserve capacity in the battery cells; and automatically availing atemporary increase in battery capacity via employing the reservecapacity.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with otherand further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to thefollowing description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in theappended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 graphically illustrates battery performance for a conventionalsilver zinc battery and a lithium ion battery.

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but also graphically illustrates batteryperformance for a modified conventional silver zinc battery.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a computer system.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a computer system and battery pack.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates battery cells with a reserve capacity.

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b provide a graphical illustration and a voltage diagramin connection with a first mode of battery management.

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b provide a graphical illustration and a voltage diagramin connection with a second mode of battery management.

FIG. 8 provides a graphical illustration of a third mode of batterymanagement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with otherand further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to thefollowing description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in theappended claims.

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the Figures herein,may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of theembodiments of the apparatus, system, and method of the presentinvention, as represented in FIGS. 3 through 8, is not intended to limitthe scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative ofselected embodiments of the invention.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” (or the like) means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearancesof the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in variousplaces throughout this specification are not necessarily all referringto the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are provided, such asexamples of programming, software modules, user selections, networktransactions, database queries, database structures, hardware modules,hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thoroughunderstanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in therelevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can bepracticed without one or more of the specific details, or with othermethods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-knownstructures, materials, or operations are not shown or described indetail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

The illustrated embodiments of the invention will be best understood byreference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by likenumerals or other labels throughout. The following description isintended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain selectedembodiments of devices, systems, and processes that are consistent withthe invention as claimed herein.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is depicted a block diagram of anillustrative embodiment of a computer system 12. The illustrativeembodiment depicted in FIG. 3 may be a notebook computer system, such asone of the ThinkPad® series of personal computers sold by Lenovo (US)Inc. of Morrisville, N.C., however, as will become apparent from thefollowing description, the present invention is applicable to any dataprocessing system. Notebook computers may alternatively be referred toas “notebooks”, “laptops”, “laptop computers” or “mobile computers”herein, and these terms should be understood as being essentiallyinterchangeable with one another.

As shown in FIG. 3, computer system 12 includes at least one systemprocessor 42, which is coupled to a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 40 and asystem memory 46 by a processor bus 44. System processor 42, which maycomprise one of the AMD™ line of processors produced by AMD Corporationor a processor produced by Intel Corporation, is a general-purposeprocessor that executes boot code 41 stored within ROM 40 at power-onand thereafter processes data under the control of operating system andapplication software stored in system memory 46. System processor 42 iscoupled via processor bus 44 and host bridge 48 to Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) local bus 50.

PCI local bus 50 supports the attachment of a number of devices,including adapters and bridges. Among these devices is network adapter66, which interfaces computer system 12 to a LAN, and graphics adapter68, which interfaces computer system 12 to display 69. Communication onPCI local bus 50 is governed by local PCI controller 52, which is inturn coupled to non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) 56 via memorybus 54. Local PCI controller 52 can be coupled to additional buses anddevices via a second host bridge 60.

Computer system 12 further includes Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)bus 62, which is coupled to PCI local bus 50 by ISA bridge 64. Coupledto ISA bus 62 is an input/output (I/O) controller 70, which controlscommunication between computer system 12 and attached peripheral devicessuch as a keyboard and mouse. In addition, I/O controller 70 supportsexternal communication by computer system 12 via serial and parallelports. A disk controller 72 is in communication with a disk drive 200.Of course, it should be appreciated that the system 12 may be built withdifferent chip sets and a different bus structure, as well as with anyother suitable substitute components, while providing comparable oranalogous functions to those discussed above.

Further illustrated in FIG. 3 is a battery pack 208 and DC/DC converter210 which connect, via a connection 199, to the general system 12.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a computer system 12 with aconventional battery and brick arrangement. As shown, a wall outlet 201can accommodate a plug (not shown in detail) extending from a wire whichitself leads to an AC/DC adapter, or “brick”, 202. In turn, a wire fromhere typically can be plugged into a DC input or jack 204. Accordingly,this normally constitutes one distinct system arrangement for powering acomputer and (as is well known) recharging a battery pack.

For its part, battery pack 208 is typically freely integrable into, andremovable from, a system 12; here, it is shown separately from system 12merely for the purpose of clearer illustration. Typically, battery pack208 will include a battery management unit 208 a and battery cells 208b, wherein the management unit 208 a, as is very well known, manages thecharge provide to and from cells 208 b so as to facilitate,respectively, recharging of the cells 208 b and powering of the system12.

Brick 202 and battery pack 208, for their part, both feed into a DC/DCconverter 210 as is well-known, and this in turn serves to power thesystem 12 (via connection 199). Further, a charge control arrangement206 is typically included to facilitate the charging of battery cells208 b by the DC power source (which includes adapter or brick 202).Generally, charge control arrangement 206 will communicate with thebattery management unit 208 a (e.g. via a “SMART” battery arrangement orother serial communication standard) so as to ascertain the state ofbattery cells 208 b and to determine the level of current (originatinghere from AC/DC adapter 202) needed to be provided to cells 208 b by wayof recharging, or continuing to recharge, the cells 208 b.

In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, an emergency reserve is preferably provided in battery cells,which may be employed as needed in order to temporarily afford extracapacity as needed, while not being detrimental to the longer-term cyclelife of the cells. More particularly, a silver zinc battery maypreferably initiate operation at a lower capacity than the norm forsilver zinc batteries, while allowing unused capacity to be tapped intoon a short term basis as may be needed (e.g., if a user wants to makeuse of higher capacity for a long travel trip where recharging might beelusive).

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a set 508 b of battery cells 508 c(e.g., six in number). Preferably, a portion 511 a of each cell 508 c(as shown by shading) may be considered the aforementioned reservecapacity. Thus, while a “main” capacity 511 b of each cell 508 c may beemployed in day-to-day or ongoing operation, the reserve capacity 511 acan be accessed short-term at any time for a given short-term purpose,while such accessing over the longer haul will not greatly reduce thecycle life of the battery.

Preferably, the reserve 511 a may be provided or enabled by operatingthe cells 508 b in a range that has a higher “floor” than zero; that is,in such day-to-day operation, the user will preferably be made awarethat the battery needs to be recharged when capacity is at orapproaching that floor (as opposed to conventional arrangements whensuch notifications are made when capacity is at or approaching zero).Further, whereas a notebook computer may conventionally switch into ahibernate mode when a capacity of zero is reached, in accordance with atleast one embodiment of the present invention the computer may do sowhen the floor contemplated herein is reached. This floor can be chosenin accordance with essentially any desired criteria but could be, forexample, around or about 20% of battery capacity.

FIG. 6 a graphically illustrates the aforementioned phenomena inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Shown,as before, are curves of long-term power level vs. cycles forconventional lithium ion and silver zinc batteries. Also shown, indotted line, is a curve for a silver zinc battery in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown, the initial capacity ofthe “new” silver zinc battery may be chosen so as to be in generalapproximation of that of a conventional lithium ion battery or even abit higher (or of course could be chosen to be some other value). (Itwill be appreciated that the initial capacity will be governed at leastin part by the amount of reserve capacity initially set aside and,likewise, available reserve capacity will be governed at least in partby a desired initial capacity.) Thence, in accordance with short-termuser needs, at timepoints 6 x and 6 y the user may temporarily (e.g.,over the course of one or a few charge/discharge cycles) temporarilymake use of the reserve capacity, which will allow the battery tooperate temporarily in accordance with the “conventional” silver zinccurve shown. The rectangles at 6 x and 6 y not only convey thistemporary “jump” to a higher overall capacity, but also illustrate thatafter the temporary “jump” the battery capacity will have stepped down abit. However, assuming that the temporary use of reserve capacity isshort-lived, it will be appreciated that the subsequent step-down ofcapacity in each instance will not be great. As can also be appreciatedfrom FIG. 6 a, the “new” silver zinc battery will ultimately deplete(over the longer term) after a number of cycles that may fall short ofthe number associated with the life of a lithium ion battery, but theshortfall will not be great. Accordingly, this shortfall may be viewedas a minor tradeoff for the utility attained in association withtemporarily and selectively making use of a silver zinc battery's higheravailable capacity.

FIG. 6 b graphically illustrates, via a voltage diagram, the employmentof a floor in connection with a silver zinc battery according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention, where V(max) is themaximum battery capacity (e.g., 100%), V(under) is the minimum batterycapacity normally associated with the battery (e.g., 0&) and V(min)represents the aforementioned “floor” (e.g., 20%).

Preferably, in order to set parameters as discussed heretofore, a BMU(such as that indicated at 208A in FIG. 4) may be so configured via itsown microprocessor. In other words, the BMU may preferably be pre-set soas to apply a desired floor as just discussed. User communication with,and control of, the BMU may be afforded via essentially any suitablearrangement, such as via a conventional user interface such as an appletor power management utility.

FIG. 7 a is similar to FIG. 6 a while illustrating another embodiment inaccordance with the present invention. Here, whether or not the reservecapacity of a silver zinc battery (in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention) has been tapped into by the time the battery nearsthe end of its service life, it will be appreciated that some reservecapacity may indeed be unused and still potentially useful. Thus, a BMUmay preferably undertake a controlled “roll-off” to optimally make useof this unused reserve capacity at the end of the battery's servicelife, wherein, as shown via the rectangles, the expected batterycapacity (lower side of rectangles) can be temporarily boosted to ahigher operating capacity (higher side of rectangles) to the extent thatthe reserve capacity will allow. Thus, and with further reference to thevoltage diagram shown in FIG. 7 b, to the extent that the battery mayhave employed up to this time a maximum capacity or ceiling not yetbreached, V(max), the BMU may preferably accord a temporarily higherceiling, V(over), to allow the reserve capacity to be fully employed inthe controlled “roll-off”. Preferably, this roll-off may beautomatically triggered via the BMU, but conceivably it could also bepresented to the user as an option as the battery nears the end of itsservice life. It should be understood that while this will notnecessarily accord higher capacity for a considerable period of time(e.g., on the scale of months), it can and will at least accord severalmore charging cycles (e.g., on the order of days) that nonetheless couldbe of great utility to a user; if nothing else, it may be thought of asa small amount of reserve power akin to reserve gasoline in anautomobile gas tank (e.g. a gallon or so) that still remains even afterthe dashboard fuel indicator reads “empty”.

FIG. 8 is similar to FIGS. 6 a and 7 a while illustrating anotherembodiment in accordance with the present invention. As with previousfigures, long-term power capacity curves for conventional lithium ionand silver zinc batteries are shown. Preferably, in accordance with thecurve of a “new” silver-zinc battery shown in dotted line, a gradualreduction in capacity (akin to a lithium ion battery) may be afforded asopposed to the sharper drop-off in capacity (at point D1 as shown) for aconventional silver zinc battery. This can be accomplished by altering acharge algorithm for the battery (as implemented by a BMU), e.g., byprogramming in a gradual decrease (e.g., where the available capacity ina given cycle can be x % of that of the previous cycle, e.g., where xcan be on the order of 95-99). Thence, at point D2 as shown, there willbe a drop-off to zero at the end of the battery's service life, while itcan be noted that the gradual reduction in available capacity willpermit some extra cycles of service life as compared to the conventionalsilver zinc battery.

Preferably, this effect may be brought about by actually graduallyincreasing the “floor” of V(min) discussed heretofore, wherein theaforementioned reserve capacity may be gradually (e.g., linearly)increased so as to gradually (e.g., linearly) reduce available capacity.Thence, the “drop-off” at the end of the service life could be broughtabout naturally, or could even be governed by the controlled roll-offdiscussed above in connection with FIGS. 7 a and 7 b.

It should be generally understood that, whereas examples in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention, as set forthhereinabove, have focused on the environment of a laptop or notebook,the battery management protocols broadly contemplated herein can ofcourse be employed in a very wide variety of mobile device settings,such as with cell phones and personal data assistants.

It should be understood and appreciated that although specific mentionhas been made herein of silver zinc batteries, it should be understoodthat other types of batteries functionally analogous to silver zincbatteries may of course be configured in a similar manner as discussedherein in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.Accordingly, by way of illustrative and non-restrictive examples, suchtypes of batteries could include, while of course not being limited to:versions of silver-zinc batteries that are doped with additionalelements (e.g., to result in a silver-cobalt-zinc battery); batterieswith alternative zinc-based chemistries (such as zinc-air); andessentially any battery technology that could readily employ thefunctions discussed herein. For the purposes of the present discussion,a “zinc-based” battery can be understood as including at least the dopedsilver-zinc batteries and batteries with alternative zinc-basedchemistries just mentioned, as well as silver-zinc batteries per se. A“silver-zinc based” battery can be understood as including at least thedoped silver-zinc batteries as just mentioned, as well as silver-zincbatteries per se.

It is to be understood that the present invention, in accordance with atleast one presently preferred embodiment, includes elements that may beimplemented on at least one general-purpose computer running suitablesoftware programs. These may also be implemented on at least oneIntegrated Circuit or part of at least one Integrated Circuit. Thus, itis to be understood that the invention may be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination of both.

If not otherwise stated herein, it is to be assumed that all patents,patent applications, patent publications and other publications(including web-based publications) mentioned and cited herein are herebyfully incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in their entiretyherein.

Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may beaffected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention.

1. An apparatus comprising: a mobile device; a battery for providingpower to said mobile device; said battery comprising battery cells whichstore power; and a battery capacity manager which controls provision ofpower from said battery to said mobile device; said battery capacitymanager acting to: define a reserve capacity in said battery cells; andautomatically avail a selective temporary increase in battery capacityvia employing the reserve capacity.
 2. The apparatus according to claim1, wherein said mobile device comprises a laptop, said laptop computercomprising a main memory and a system processor, said battery acting topower said main memory and said system processor.
 3. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein: said battery capacity manager acts todefine a maximum battery capacity during operation of said battery; thedefined maximum battery capacity being less than a full capacity of saidbattery.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the reservecapacity corresponds to battery capacity above the defined maximumbattery capacity.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein saidbattery capacity manager acts to avail a temporary increase in batterycapacity via temporarily increasing the defined maximum batterycapacity.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said batterycapacity manager acts to initiate service life of said battery at alower available capacity.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, whereinsaid battery capacity manager acts to define a reserve capacity in eachone of said cells.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidbattery capacity manager comprises a battery management unit disposed insaid battery.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thetemporary increase in battery capacity, via employing the reservecapacity, is automatically availed immediately prior to the end ofservice life of the battery.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said battery comprises a zinc-based battery.
 11. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein said battery comprises a silver-zinc basedbattery.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said batterycomprises a silver-zinc battery.
 13. A method comprising: powering amobile device with a battery, the battery comprising battery cells whichstore power; and controlling provision of power from the battery to themobile device, said controlling comprising: defining a reserve capacityin the battery cells; and automatically availing a temporary increase inbattery capacity via employing the reserve capacity.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the mobile device comprises a laptop. 15.The method according to claim 13, wherein: said defining comprisesdefining a minimum battery capacity during operation of the battery; thedefined maximum battery capacity being less than a full capacity of saidbattery.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the reservecapacity corresponds to battery capacity above the defined maximumbattery capacity.
 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein saidavailing comprises temporarily increasing the defined maximum batterycapacity.
 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said controllingfurther comprises initiating service life of the battery at a loweravailable capacity.
 19. The method according to claim 13, wherein saiddefining comprises defining a reserve capacity in each one of the cells.20. The method according to claim 13, wherein said availing comprisesautomatically availing an increase in battery capacity, via employingthe reserve capacity, immediately prior to the end of service life ofthe battery.
 21. The method according to claim 13, wherein said batterycomprises a zinc-based battery.
 22. The method according to claim 13,wherein said battery comprises a silver-zinc based battery.
 23. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein said battery comprises asilver-zinc battery.
 24. A program storage device readable by machine,tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machineto perform a method comprising: powering a mobile device with a battery,the battery comprising battery cells which store power; and controllingprovision of power from the battery to the mobile device, saidcontrolling comprising: defining a reserve capacity in the batterycells; and automatically availing a temporary increase in batterycapacity via employing the reserve capacity.